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Gemini Ascendant Campaign


Nolgroth

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

History

The Zharog were born of fire and blood. From their most ancient days they have been locked in endless wars of conquest across the Greenbelt. Legends tell of their gods elevating them from a peaceful, simple race and forging them anew as the perfect warriors. Truth or fantasy, the Zharog waged war for nearly two-thousand years.

 

Their reign ended about five hundred years ago. Their population depleted by the endless fighting and the industrial base of a score worlds was layed low. Individual colonies existed, but no longer were the Zharog the scourge of the Greenbelt. Over time, they adapted their ruthless efficiency to other tasks. Soon they excelled at technological development and made strides in the fields of aeronautics and space exploration. They advanced their medical knowledge and developed methods of colonizing the emptiness of space.

 

But the warrior heritage never left the Zharog. Instead of fighting each other, they found others in their renewed search for conquest. It was during this time, nearly two hundred years passed, that they first encountered humanity. And it was humanity that gave them their single largest challenge. Though not nearly as physically impressive, the humans

were as ingenious and aggressive as any yazarian. They had strategists and tacticians that time and again proved a match for the Zharog commanders.

 

The two species fought for nearly a decade before the Z'Qruin intervened and warned them of an impending invasion into the Greenbelt. Warily, the two forces declared a cease fire to consider the Z'Qruin's information. Neither side was convinced until the Z'Qruin world of K'Thik'zar was overrun. The danger made clear, the two species declared a treaty (signed and ratified by both governments in what is now the Sanctuary system). Together the three made war against the Khaetnogeth.

 

This alliance sowed the seeds for the future United Confederate Worlds. For over a century, the Zharog have been the stalwart arm of the Confederacy.

 

With the recent dissolution of the Confederacy, the Zharog have retreated back into their native space and begun building their armada. Recent attacks against the Free Merchants of Carapella seem to indicate that the Zharog have resumed their warlike ways.

 

The Zharog Clans

The Zharog are divided into three bloodlines which they refer to as "clans." The most numerous clan is comprised of the original Zharog stock, a short, quick creature with membranes much like a flying squirrel. Though not as physically powerful as the other clans, the Izaryi are still ferocious in combat, being called "rabid squirrels" by their human foes during the Human-Zharog War. In standard or lighter gravity, the Izaryi can glide for short periods, allowing them to traverse large areas.

 

A variant of the Zharog, being much bulkier and lacking the gliding membranes is the Dargoth Clan. They seem to have been engineered for heavier gravities and are much tougher and stronger than the smaller Izaryi. The Dargoth have always been used when strong shock troops are needed to deliver maximum firepower.

 

The most rare of the clans is the Rangri. A little taller than the average human, they are a blending of the traits of the Izaryi and the Dargoth. They are stronger than the Izaryi, though not as strong as the Dargoth. They lack the gliding membranes for the Izaryi, but have long powerful arms that allow them to scale walls, trees and other vertical surfaces much faster.

 

All Zharog have light sensitive eyes. They can see very well in dim, murky environments, but bright light is painful to them. Sudden exposure to bright light can leave them temporarily blinded and long-term exposure to bright light is painful to them. In human colonies and settlements, the Zharog have taken to wearing darkened goggles.

 

Building an Izaryi

The Izaryi are less strong than humans (-4 to Strength (Maxima 21)), but faster (+1 Speed (Maxima 6) Lightning Reflexes +3 (all Actions)). They can glide for short distances (Gliding 5m).

 

Building a Dargoth

Dargoth have +3 Strength (28 Maxima), +3 Body ( 28 Maxima) and +5 Con (30 Maxima).

Building a Rangri

Rangri have +1 Str (26 Maxima), +1 Body (26 Maxima) and +2 Con (27 Maxima). They get +2 to Climbing skill rolls which applies even to the Everyman level because of their natural talent.

 

Common Abilities

Natural low-light vision (UV vision). Physical Limitation (-2 to all rolls in Normal light. -4 to all rolls in Bright Light) Infrequently, Greatly Vulnerability x2 Effect from Flashes.

 

Design Notes

I wanted to keep the core abilities (and limitations) of the Yazarian intact during the conversion to the Zharog. On the other hand, I wanted to give each clan/bloodline their own strengths and weaknesses. I wanted them to be similar enough that they all were identifiable as Zharog yet different enough that choosing different clans would yield different results.

 

The maximum speed for the campaign is 6. Even though the Izaryi get a bonus to speed it does not raise the maxima.

 

Ta'Rang is Rangri clan.

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Wade McCode

 

Since I'm not Wade's player, I had a little less liberty to play around with his concept. So I pulled a straight conversion - but there are some design considerations. Also, according to the file that Nol sent me, Wade was over by 1XP (more on that later).

 

Characteristics:

VAL	CHA	Cost	Roll	Notes
16	STR	6	12-	HTH Damage 3d6  END [2]
21	DEX	22	13-
14	CON	4	12-
18	INT	8	13-	PER Roll 13-
10	EGO	0	11-
13	PRE	3	12-	PRE Attack: 2 1/2d6
7	OCV	20
7	DCV	20
3	OMCV	0
3	DMCV	0
4	SPD	20	Phases:  3, 6, 9, 12
4	PD	2	4 PD (0 rPD)
4	ED	2	4 ED (0 rED)
10	REC	6
30	END	2
14	BODY	4	
28	STUN	4

Movement	Cost	Meters	Notes
RUNNING	0	12m/24m	END [1]
SWIMMING	-1	2m/4m	END [1]
LEAPING	1	6m	6m forward, 3m upward

Straight forward from the 5E Numbers, since the Characteristic Maxima was raised to 25 he didn't pay double to get his DEX to 21. Even with that, his Characteristics cost considerably more due to high CVs, that and his 28 Stun costs 4pts in 6E where he got a point back in 5E. This is where most of his 6E Bump comes in (actually, more than his bump, but he used less points elsewhere).

 

Skills:

Cost	Skills
Everyman
0	1)  Acting 8-
0	2)  Climbing 8-
0	3)  Concealment 8-
0	4)  Conversation 8-
0	5)  High Society 8-
0	6)  Language:  Pan-Galactic (idiomatic) (4 Active Points)
0	7)  PS: Scout 8-
0	8)  Shadowing 8-
0	9)  Stealth 8-
Scout
1	1)  Bribery 8-
1	2)  Bureaucratics 8-
3	3)  +1 with Human Advanced Arms
7	4)  Combat Piloting 15-
3	5)  Computer Programming 13-
3	6)  Concealment 13-
3	7)  Deduction 13-
3	8)  Electronics 13-
3	9)  Fast Draw 13-
2	10) Gambling (Card Games) 13-
3	11) Instructor 13-
2	12) Language:  Yazarian (fluent conversation)
1	13) Lipreading 8-
1	14) Lockpicking 8-
3	15) Mechanics 13-
4	16) Navigation (Land, Space, Void) 13-
3	17) Persuasion 12-
2	18) PS: Engineer 11-
3	19) Reseach 13-
5	20) Rapid Attack  (10 Active Points); Ranged Multiple Attacks Only (-1)
3	21) Security Systems 13-
3	22) Charm 12-
3	23) Sleight Of Hand 13-
3	24) Stealth 13-
3	25) Streetwise 12-
5	26) Survival 14-
2	27) Systems Operation (Need Which Sys Ops) 13-
24	28) +2 Overall
5	29) Tracking 14-
3	30) Trading 12-
4	31) TF:  Common Motorized Ground Vehicles, Grav Vehicles/Hovercraft, Spacecraft: Human, Spacecraft: Yazarian
10	32) Two-Weapon Fighting 
3	33) Weaponsmith (Firearms, Human Advanced Arms) 13-
10	34) WF:  Small Arms, Human Advanced Arms, Vehicle Weapons (Human), Vehicle Weapons (Yazarian), Yazarian Advanced Arms

Skills cost more, but due to Nolgroth's more defined campaign parameters. A Note on Rapid Attack, it applies to Multiple Attack Maneuver (a new maneuver that combines all kinds of things) so Wade's is Limited to ranged attacks of any sort. His Overall Skill Levels cost more under 6E - and push him to campaign Max for most of his skill set, still showing that they can be a good deal - assume Wade never needs to use Skills in a complimentary fashion. . .

 

Wade has 2 Skills that go over the 15- soft cap, due to levels. Combat Piloting (tops at 19- with Overall Skill Levels and Hot Shot Pilot both) and Tracking (16- with Overall Skill Levels).

 

On Fill In item: which Systems Operations is Wade skilled in? The list is upthread somewhere, but I will be reposting it to the website I created on Monday when I get enough time to revamp everything.

 

Martial Arts, Perks, and Talents:

Cost	Martial Arts
3	Legsweep:  1/2 Phase, +2 OCV, -1 DCV, 4d6 Strike, Target Falls
4	Martial Dodge:  1/2 Phase, -- OCV, +5 DCV, Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort
4	Martial Strike:  1/2 Phase, +0 OCV, +2 DCV, 5d6 Strike

Cost	Perks
3	Fringe Benefit:  Concealed Weapon Permit (where appropriate), Starship License
5	Equipment Pool Bonus

Cost	Talents
6	Environmental Movement (no penalties in Zero-Gravity)
6	Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED)
1	Ambidexterity (-2 Off Hand penalty)

Wade has an Equipment Pool boost, if Nolgroth isn't planning on using them, well, Wade has 5 more XP to use. Otherwise his Pool is 5 Active Points greater than normal. His Martial Arts has no SFX, probably a combination of Boot Camp, and Bar Brawls. Again, 0-G Movement went up. But Ambidexterity went down in cost (because, seriously, 9 Points was way to much even when it comes up) I left it at Wade's level, a -2 instead of -3 Offhand, so a small price break there.

 

a thought/play note on Combat Luck - it places Wade's defenses at 7/3r which is half the Campaign Limit. One trick is that the "Luck" portion of Combat Luck only plays a roll when 1) The Character is Unarmored (i.e. just his shirt and a bit of luck between him and and early grave) and 2) upon GM Drama-Intuition. It works extremely well that way, allowing the character to wear armor like anyone else without suddenly being invulnerable.

 

Powers (Action Stunts):

Cost	Powers
7	Superb Pilot: +1 SPD (10 Active Points); Only When Piloting Spacecraft (-1/2) - END=
22	Builder DNA: Regeneration (1 BODY per Hour), Can Heal Limbs, Resurrection (33 Active Points); Character Must Rest For Entire Period To Regenerate (-1/2) - END=0
12	Hot Shot Pilot: (Total: 28 Active Cost, 12 Real Cost) +2 with Combat Piloting (Real Cost: 4) plus Aid  DCV 4d6 (standard effect: 12 points) (24 Active Points); Only for Starship a Character Is Piloting (-2) (Real Cost: 8) - END=2

Alright, Wade had some weird stuff on his Powers Tab in 5E. First was a repair manual program for his bike, which I'm pretty sure is Equipment (I removed it removing the 1XP deficit Wade had worked up). Wade also had 6XP dedicated to buying off some Disadvantages, I gave it back as XP (see notes under Complications below for more on that). He has the exact same Regeneration/Builder DNA as Sam, making them match in that regards.

 

Complications:

Value	Complications
25	Hunted:  A Good Chunk Of The Frontier Frequently (Mo Pow; NCI; Harshly Punish)
10	Psychological Complication:  Fear Of Drowning (Uncommon; Strong)
10	Psychological Complication:  Overconfident (Uncommon; Strong)
5	Enraged:  When Cheated in any Contest (Uncommon), go 8-, recover 14-
32	6E Conversion Bump

This is where I took the most design liberty in conversion, had to be done. First, Wade had a few vaguely defined Hunteds, as well as ongoing Campaign Events contributed to his Hunted, I bumped the level down 1 from what I gave Samantha for two reasons 1) She's the captain, she deserves more points :) and 2) Wade had a bunch of other goodies to play with. The Fear Of Drowning has come up at least once, so I kept it under is Psychological Complications. And I kept Overconfident, because he is and played extremely well that way. Though "Moderate" shouldn't even be a level for that so I bumped it to Strong - whose Kind Of Overconfident? Right... thought so. I considered changing it to "Stupidly and Psychotically Over Protective Of Samantha Even Though He Doesn't Need To Be" but it'd get played either way. Also, I kept the Enraged in there, because it also has gotten some mileage already in the campaign and is a nice bit of flavor.

 

Wade cost 32 Character Points more upon Conversion, again most of that in Characteristics. Also, Wade had started to buy down some Disadvantages, under 6E you need less points in Disads and while it's technically possible to buy them down there is now less BS in the list to fill it out, and I'm of the opinion they shouldn't be bought off, just changed as appropriate to the Campaign - so I took a design liberty and turned it into unspent XP for Wade. Congrats.

 

Base Points: 125

Matching Complications: 50 (+32 for 6E Conversion)

Experience: 132 (Unspent: 6)

Total Points: 333

 

And that's how Wade came out.

 

Now that I have Ta'Rang's racial template I will finish him off tomorrow, along with Caspar. And Killian/Micah last (silly VPP...).

 

Thoughts? Comments? Ideas? Corrections? All Welcome since I don't own Wade he could change slightly depending on input from Starwolf and/or Nolgroth.

 

One last design note/thought on Wade. I didn't add it, but I think +1 Level Striking Appearance "Dashing Good Looks" is very appropriate to the Character.

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Interesting seeing the characters broken down this way. For one, I never really pegged Wade as a ground pounding survivalist scout type, even when his skills were right in front of my face. I like the breakdown.

 

In regards to the specific build, I see nothing wrong. Maybe Starwolf will when he gets back. The only question I have is do the "soft caps" cap the skills at that level no matter the bonuses or are the soft caps overlooked in those cases. Seems to me that a roll of 18 fails period so the bonus to the Combat Piloting is appropriate to Wade's (righteous) claim of being the best pilot in the galaxy.

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

A Roll of 18 is always a Critical Failure.

 

The only thing a 19- Skill Roll does is put you in a better position when confronted with negative modifiers to your skill roll (like trying to pull a 720 Landing at velocity).

 

the soft caps are really just that - soft. I didn't put any campaign rules in place to charge double after you reach 15- or anything like that. They're just a GMs way of saying "No point penalty, but please don't exceed this number so my campaign remains fun for everyone."

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Yeah - Wade's a hardcore survivalist and you can't get Samantha to set foot on a planet. . . they are in many ways as completely opposite as they are similar.
And that's why this particular campaign is so awesome. The contrast between the characters' similarities and differences comes out almost every time we play.
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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

I'm BAAAAAaaaaaack!!!

 

Ok, I love the conversion, and I agree if Nol allows it I will buy one level of stiking appearance. Other than that I would keep him exactley as converted. He has always been a "survivalist" of sorts, I originannly envisioned him as a cross between Danial Boone, Han Solo, and Maverk from top gun :D

 

Only one comment on the Hot Shot Pilot write up, shouldn't it be...

 

Hot Shot Pilot: (Total: 28 Active Cost, 12 Real Cost) +2 with Combat Piloting (Real Cost: 4) plus Boost DCV 4d6 (standard effect: 12 points) (24 Active Points); Only for Starship a Character Is Piloting (-2) (Real Cost: 8) :eg:

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Not even remotely.

 

Boost is Aid; Costs Endurance To Maintain.

If you want to spend 10END per Turn that's your business.

 

If I wanted to be anal about it, the Aid should have a Trigger for every Post-12 to kick the Fade Rate, but quite frankly - I don't think we need to be that anal about it.

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Not even remotely.

 

Boost is Aid; Costs Endurance To Maintain.

If you want to spend 10END per Turn that's your business.

 

If I wanted to be anal about it, the Aid should have a Trigger for every Post-12 to kick the Fade Rate, but quite frankly - I don't think we need to be that anal about it.

 

Hah... I don't know why I even bother bringing this stuff up... once again you are correct as usual. I guess I need to go back and re-read the new rules again (maybe even a couple of times) to cement the new stuff in my noggin. :doi:

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Ok token images...

 

Do you guys want to provide them and I can pre-load them into the tokens, or would you prefere for me to load a generic image into the token and you can change it later yourselves. Note that any token images must also be sent to Nol for server hosting or else we will get intermittent "question mark" images when changing the token image.

 

As soon as we make a group decision about this I am ready to update the individual character tokens with the 6E conversion stats as GA posts them. On a related note for Nol, I will have the 6E generic NPC tokens with macros and an updated 6E maptools campaign file posted for you tomorrow afternoon.

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Ok another couple of maptool notes...

 

Going forward we are working on adding the TSV and Beastiary hit location tables. when you fire an attack macro there will be a target type selection (defaulting to humanoid) where you select the appropriate hit location type...

 

Brad almost has the last of the apply damage macros done so that MT will track damage, END and Recovery... If we want it to. There is nothing complelling a given GM to use the functionality but it will be there none the less. Once Brad has that done he will update the Hero Macro video tutorials to show us how to use them.

 

There is also another project to add a visual movement display to your tokens movement track. What this will do, in theory, is when you move your token the movement trail will light up with a white overlay, up to your half move, then it will turn yellow, up to your full move, and finally it will turn red once you exceeed you full move. I am trying to get 4 levels of color built into the code so that we can cover 1/2, full. and NCM movement. it will also be token definable so that if I can only move 12 meters and your car can move 30 meters, the trail will light up appropriately. Once you complete the move and drop the token, the highlighting disappears. Just a visual indicator so that, especially new, players know how far they can move and still attack, etc.

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Ok I punched Wade into HDv3 for 6E and applied the hdr file that GA posted. I came across a couple of issues and I have a question.

 

1) In the 6E skills list in HD there are no Instructor or Research skills listed so I added them as PS: Instructor and KS: Research, both based on Int. The cost came out the same.

 

2) Initially when I created Wade his System Ops was in Sensors and Scanners, but then Nol said we were not going to use the sub-categories for System Ops, Navigation, Survival, and I believe Computer Programming. So I changed it to simply read System Operations. How do you want it listed Nol? On the conversion sheet I added the Senors sub-category back until you make a ruling.

 

3) Now that I have Wade keyed into HD and converted to 6E the points aren't coming out the way GA has them listed. I may just be getting bleary eyed from looking at it, but I have gone line by line as far as I can see everything on the sheet matches what GA posted, both in text and the cost charged to the character, but he has my total spent at 333, and HD is telling me it is 327 (and that's with the one level of striking appearance already added), leaving me with 12 points unspent. Perhaps I can send one of you the hdc file and you can take a look and see what I am missing.

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Instructor and Research are from Ultimate Skill, thus won't show up in the 6E list. I used the Power Skill and just renamed it from Power to the appropriate name (that way it pulls a calculated roll from the correct Characteristic.)

 

Here is the Subcategory Skill List Nolgroth has settled on moving forward:

Computer Programming

no categories

(understanding the program requires knowing the language - not programming language, species language - it was done in)

 

Navigation (2pts each)

Land - standard

Air - standard

Marine - standard

Space - used for Jump Drives

Void - used for Void Drives

 

Systems Operations (2pts each)

Communications

Environmental

Medical

(Weapons & Navigation are covered by WF & TF respectively)

(understanding the systems may also require appropriate Language knowledge)

 

Transport Familiarity (2pts each)

Human Spacecraft

Drasalite Spacecraft

Vrusk Spacecraft

Yazarian Spacecraft

(Piloting fighter craft requires Combat Piloting)

 

Weapon Familiarity (2pts each)

Human Arms

Human Vehicle Weapons

Drasalite Arms

Drasalite Vehicle Weapons

Vrusk Arms

Vrusk Vehicle Weapons

Yazarian Arms

Yazarian Vehicle Weapons

 

Weaponsmith (2pts each)

Human Arms

Drasalite Arms

Vrusk Arms

Yazarian Arms

 

In HD6 you'll have to tick in some Custom Adders in a few of those as the base 6E Skill doesn't break it down. We'll likely have to wait for 6E Star Hero before that happens.

 

Attached is the HDC I have for Wade.

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

K... so I suppose that in the sense/intent I originally bought Systems Operations it would be the Environmental sub-category as I was using it to "scan" for things like planets, energy sources/types, chemicals, elements, and detecting/locking on to other ships/star fighters.

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Of course, that list was created as we were doing the revision so replace the old species names with the new and strike Dralasite/Changeling from the list as they have no unified species technology.

 

The price we pay for on the fly evolution of concept. :)

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

K... so I suppose that in the sense/intent I originally bought Systems Operations it would be the Environmental sub-category as I was using it to "scan" for things like planets' date=' energy sources/types, chemicals, elements, and detecting/locking on to other ships/star fighters.[/quote']

 

Hmm... could probably add another major category: Sensors.

 

Since Environment seems to imply life support systems, HVAC and the like.

 

Nol?

 

(and a check on the species name change.. I'll make a Prefab with the skills I think.)

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Ok I found where the point differrences where coming from between your conversion and my entry tahnks to comparing the HDC you posted. One was my error, when keying in the character I missed two weapon fighting skill. I added it to the skills list

 

The other was a wierd math glitch in the new HD, but was affecting the cost in your conversion and the HDC you posted. In the Systems Operation skill you put in a custom adder and changed the text to prompt me to enter the category. Systems Operations is a 3 point skill. Your custom adder was set to 2, which should have made the cost 5 (base 3 plus the custom adder of 2), but instead the adder overrode the skill cost and it was added to the sheet for a total cost of 2. On other skills and items where custom adders are applied they add or subtract from the real cost, they don;t override it. I unchecked the custom adder, and appended my category choice to the System Operations text line, it automatically raised the cost from 2 back to 3.

 

I added in the one level of Striking Appearance to you conversion, and now both HDCs match mathematically. For Instructor and Research, I had come to the same conclusion that you pointed out about them being in TUS, the only difference was in how we added them to the sheet, but they ended up costing the same and being based on the correct Characteristic in both versions.

 

I knew you had the converted HDC, and would be glad to post it, but I wanted to go through this exercise to help me get mo betta familair with both the 6E rules, and HD 6E. Making our conversions match and going through the builds helped. As my pappy used to say "if you want to be a great HD and 6E guru, learn from a great HD and 6E guru" :D

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Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign

 

Hah cross posting thugs...

 

Ok I will make it System Operations: Sensors.

 

I had already picked up on the species changes so in my coverted HDC all references to Yazarians, were changed to Zharog. I will send the updated HDC to Nol shortly.

 

Now as to Doc, before I send it, I want to do my own conversion and then again compare it to GA's and figure out/resolve any differences, before I send it.

 

I am still on track to send the campaign file and generic NPC tokens with macros this afternoon. I am tweaking a couple of macros that were wonked when I changed the campaign preferences to match 6E. But be aware that while all of my macros work just fine, some of Brads are incomplete or non-functional. Which is OK, thats the whole reason I made my own.

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